Dak Lak accelerates durian data collection

Following the conference to launch the Digital Map of Agricultural Products, OCOP Products and Village Tourism, and to roll out the peak “30-Day and Night” campaign to digitize, standardize, update and connect data on durian growing-area codes and packing facilities, the Dak Lak Provincial People’s Committee has specified the responsibilities of each agency and locality involved in the implementation process.

On August 21, the Office of the Dak Lak Provincial People’s Committee issued Notice No. 245/TB-VPUBND on the conclusions of Provincial People’s Committee Chairman Do Huu Huy. To ensure the timely digitization, standardization and connectivity of agricultural product data, the chairman assigned the Department of Agriculture and Environment to serve as the standing agency, responsible for advising the provincial People’s Committee on direction and professional guidance, developing a detailed implementation plan, monitoring progress on a daily and weekly basis, and promptly addressing emerging difficulties and obstacles. The department is accountable to the provincial chairman for data standardization and the campaign's effectiveness.

In communes and wards where durians are grown, the Dak Lak provincial chairman asked local People’s Committees to directly oversee a comprehensive review of all durian-growing areas, including areas that have already been granted growing-area codes, packing facilities and areas currently applying for new codes. Local authorities must coordinate closely with specialized agencies under the Department of Agriculture and Environment to ensure data are complete, accurate, and updated on schedule.

This comprehensive review is particularly important as data on growing-area codes and packing facilities form part of the traceability system. Once the data are standardized and synchronized, management agencies will have a stronger basis to monitor and manage growing areas and packing facilities, as well as connect the data to the traceability system.

Responsibility is also being placed on the exporters, cooperatives, farmer groups, packing facilities, and growing-area owners. Do Huu Huy asked these stakeholders to proactively coordinate with state management agencies, provide complete documents and information, and maintain the conditions required for the continued validity of growing-area and packing-facility codes. The authorities stressed that codes must not be used improperly and that traceability fraud must be strictly prevented.

In addition, information technology units have been tasked with ensuring technical infrastructure, supporting data updates and enabling synchronized connections with the agricultural product traceability system of the MAE. Strengthening data security, centralized and standardized data management, and effective data utilization are also key priorities.

The Chairman of the Dak Lak Provincial People’s Committee has called for data digitization progress to be tied to agency heads' accountability. Accordingly, heads of departments and sectors, as well as chairpersons of commune- and ward-level People’s Committees in durian-growing areas, must directly oversee implementation and be accountable to the provincial chairman for the progress and quality of work in their respective agencies and localities.

At the same time, agencies and local authorities must mobilize resources, coordinate implementation, regularly report on progress and promptly address difficulties to prevent delays affecting the province-wide implementation and local residents.

Regarding the Digital Map of Agricultural Products, OCOP Products and Village Tourism, Do Huu Huy asked the Department of Agriculture and Environment to regularly update data on raw material areas, agricultural products, production facilities, businesses, cooperatives and linked production chains. Commune- and ward-level People’s Committees are responsible for reviewing and standardizing data in their respective localities.

For the durian sector, standardizing data on growing areas and packing facilities is more than an administrative management task. It is also a step toward strengthening the foundation for traceability, information transparency and market connectivity. According to Do Huu Huy, the more complete, accurate and timely the data are, the more effectively growing-area and packing-facility codes can be managed, monitored and leveraged.

Dak Lak currently has 280 registered growing areas covering approximately 7,500ha and 41 fresh-fruit packing facilities approved with export codes. However, the currently approved growing-area codes cover only around 17-28% of the province’s durian-producing area. A further 253 growing-area codes covering approximately 6,532ha, along with 92 packing facilities, are awaiting approval from China.